Today, I did my very first spinal anasthesia on a patient. I mean on a real patient. Not a dummy. But a patient. An alive patient. Who is about to go for an elective C-section.
Dr Matthews asked me to scrub in for today. And I thought sure, maybe he just wanted to make me feel more involved by scrubbing in. I scrubbed in with the help from a lovely midwife, as I had not scrubbed in for 3 months! I took ages to scrub in! The bit where I had to don the sterile glove is the trickiest part. I always struggle to put on my gloves gracefully. Hehe. By the time I was all sterile, Dr Matthews has already finished setting up the sterile field around the patient's back. Huhu.
With my hands clasped close to my chest, I walked to the patient. Peeking over Dr Matthew's shoulder, I tried to get a closer look at what he was doing. Then suddenly, he asked me to grab a stool, which I did. He grabbed the stool next to me. Then he asked me to palpate for the iliac crest and find the suitable level for insertion of the needle. Which I did. He helped me through this as I was not so sure of what I felt. Then after a few explanations, he asked me to hold the needle. Ok, I thought that was all he wanted me to do.
But noooooo.
He, then, told me to start and poke the needle at the patient's back. I was like, woahhh. Hold on a minute. I have not been taught how to do this before. Yes, I have seen it done like a million times. Yes, I've read the procedures from books. But I have not had a proper teaching on how to do it. All I know is from what I have seen and from what I have learnt from the books! But no, he insist me to do it. So, i was like, gulp, Ok!
So there you go. I poke in the needle after he had injected the local anaesthetic. And then poked in the finer needle for the spinal. First shot, it bang straight to the bone. After 3rd attempt, it went pass the ligamentum flavum and straight into the dura space. CSF leaks out of the needle, and that was it. I was in! After infusion of local anaesthetic, within minutes, she told me she could no longer feel anything from her nipple below. Hahahahha. Walaaaa. It works!
God, only Allah knows how scared I was at that time. Miraculously, alhamdulillah, I did not even think about anything apart from getting the procedure right. Only later I got to think of all of those things that could have gone wrong. Worst comes to worst, I could have damage her nerves and cause her to be paralysed for life. Which, alhamdulillah, I did not. The thought of it just send shivers down my spine.
So there you go. My very first experience of spinal anaesthesia. The highlight of my day. Hehe. Oh well, there is always a first time for everything, isn't there?
p/s: tick tock tick tock. the time is running! :)
Dr Matthews asked me to scrub in for today. And I thought sure, maybe he just wanted to make me feel more involved by scrubbing in. I scrubbed in with the help from a lovely midwife, as I had not scrubbed in for 3 months! I took ages to scrub in! The bit where I had to don the sterile glove is the trickiest part. I always struggle to put on my gloves gracefully. Hehe. By the time I was all sterile, Dr Matthews has already finished setting up the sterile field around the patient's back. Huhu.
With my hands clasped close to my chest, I walked to the patient. Peeking over Dr Matthew's shoulder, I tried to get a closer look at what he was doing. Then suddenly, he asked me to grab a stool, which I did. He grabbed the stool next to me. Then he asked me to palpate for the iliac crest and find the suitable level for insertion of the needle. Which I did. He helped me through this as I was not so sure of what I felt. Then after a few explanations, he asked me to hold the needle. Ok, I thought that was all he wanted me to do.
But noooooo.
He, then, told me to start and poke the needle at the patient's back. I was like, woahhh. Hold on a minute. I have not been taught how to do this before. Yes, I have seen it done like a million times. Yes, I've read the procedures from books. But I have not had a proper teaching on how to do it. All I know is from what I have seen and from what I have learnt from the books! But no, he insist me to do it. So, i was like, gulp, Ok!
So there you go. I poke in the needle after he had injected the local anaesthetic. And then poked in the finer needle for the spinal. First shot, it bang straight to the bone. After 3rd attempt, it went pass the ligamentum flavum and straight into the dura space. CSF leaks out of the needle, and that was it. I was in! After infusion of local anaesthetic, within minutes, she told me she could no longer feel anything from her nipple below. Hahahahha. Walaaaa. It works!
God, only Allah knows how scared I was at that time. Miraculously, alhamdulillah, I did not even think about anything apart from getting the procedure right. Only later I got to think of all of those things that could have gone wrong. Worst comes to worst, I could have damage her nerves and cause her to be paralysed for life. Which, alhamdulillah, I did not. The thought of it just send shivers down my spine.
So there you go. My very first experience of spinal anaesthesia. The highlight of my day. Hehe. Oh well, there is always a first time for everything, isn't there?
p/s: tick tock tick tock. the time is running! :)
3 comments:
Aliaa.. where's the "see one, do one, teach one" policy? Now, since you have seen million, you should be able to do million, then teach million. :) You go girl.. :)
walawey!hebaaatttt!
K Jannah: hahahha. no of course i did not actually seen it million times. i was just exaggerating. hehehe. thanx anyway. lama tak dgr cite akak. how have you been? :)
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